Buckle



July 27, 1954 w. J. MORSE 2,684,513

BUCKLE Filed Jan. 30, 1952 IN V EN TOR.

BY wan/ ATTORNEY Patented July 27, 1954 BUCKLE William J. Morse,Attleboro, Mass., assignor to Morse-Andrews 00., a corporation ofMassachusetts Application January 30, 1952, Serial No. 268,961

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to buckle constructions, and hasparticular reference to a buckle construction for use with mens leatherbelts.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a buckle with apositive lock for holding a belt to a fixed adjusted length.

Another object of the invention is to provide a buckle comprising afront piece and an all wire lock lever.

A further object of the invention is to provide a buckle including afront piece made from thin stamped metal which mounts a rotatable locklever for gripping a belt.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a buckle with afixed element which takes the force of pull of the belt.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a buckle in whichthe front piece is not subjected to stress when the belt has beenadjusted in place.

Another object of the invention is to provide a buckle in which the beltis locked in adjusted position by a vertical upstanding pin insertedwithin a selected belt hole.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a buckle having aball top vertical upstanding pin for slide seating in a selected beltopening.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, theinvention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully describedin the detailed description following in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claimsappended thereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the buckle mounted on a belt, the belt beingpartially cut away;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional enlarged view on the'line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the buckle showing the front frame and itsattached lock lever;

Fig. 5 is a side view of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the lock lever.

The belt buckles now in use are generally of two types, one type havinga clamp lever and the other type having a hinged tongue. The clamp levertype utilizes a stamped metal frame to which the lever is pivoted, thelever being of stamped metal and having a cam face for pressing a beltend against the inner surface of the frame to frictionally hold the beltend in adjusted position. This construction requires a 2 heavy frame,and a massive clamp lever, thus necessitating large amounts of presentlyscarce metal, and having the further disadvantage that wear on the clamplever cam face, on the belt material and on the frame p rmits a slippingof the belt parts.

It has been found desirable to provide a belt buckle which uses arelatively small amount of metal, and which has a frame made of thinstamped metal and a lever made of wire stock and having a verticalupstanding pin for positively gripping a belt end. To this end I havedevised a novel buckle construction in which the frame is made of lightmetal as it is not subjected to stress, and the lever is made from wirestock and shaped to provide a cross bar for permanently mounting one endof a belt, two parallel bars for supporting a vertical upstandinggripping pin member, and two axles for rotatably mounting the lever onthe frame.

Referring to the drawings, the buckle H] includes a frame I I, and alever l2. The frame has a slightly arcuate top 13 which may have anemblem or an insigne mounted thereon, the frame being of thin metal. Twoflanges l4, l5, depend vertically from the sides I6, I! of the top l3,and have two inwardly turned flat strips l8. l9, which are parallel tothe top I3 to form channels 20, 2| for receiving and keeping the beltaligned in the frame. Each strip has its end rolled to provide axlebearings 22, 23, which are in horizontal alignment and which arepositioned underneath the top 13.

The lever I2 is shaped from wound wire and has a frame base 24, and abelt lock element 25. The base includes a cross bar 26 for mounting oneend of a belt, two spaced parallel bars 21, 28, for mounting the lockelement, and two axles 23, 30 extending outwardly from the spaced barsfor insertion within the bearings 22, 23. The lock element 25 includes across strip 3! and an upstanding lock pin 32 which is centrally locatedon the cross strip, the lock element being preferably formed from halfround wire. The lock element is secured to the spaced bars 21, 28 byforming the ends 33, 34, of the cross strip 3! as rolls therearound. Thevertical pin 32 includes a ball top 35 for easy insertion of the pinwithin spaced perforated holes 36 which are central to align with thelock pin, see Fig. 3, at the free end of a belt 31, see Fig. 1, forgripping the free end in length adjusted position, the other end beingsecured to the cross bar 26.

Applicants novel construction thus provides a belt buckle whichfacilitates correct length adjustment, and which looks the free end ofthe belt in fixed position without danger of slipping. Due to thevertical positioning of the upstanding lock pin, any outward pressureagainst the belt, as is the case when the stomach is distended slightly,slides the pin into the nearest hole within the free end of the belt,the ball top facilitating this slidable insertion. Once the belt hasbeen locked in adjusted position, it remains set and cannot slip becausethe pull of the belt is in a horizontal plane against the fixed lockpin, which has its upper end closely adjacent to the bottom surface ofthe top. Since the lock pin takes all the force of the belt pull, theframe may be constructed of light thin metal, plastic, or other suitablematerial, since it is not under stress and its only functions are toprovide mountings for the lever and guide channels for the belt to keepthe belt holes in alignment with the vertical axis of the lock pin. Theresulting saving of metal is increased by the applicants novelconstruction of an all wire stock lever, as

both the belt lever and the lock element are made of Wire stock, thelock element being made of half round bent Wire, although the lever maybe stamped out of sheet stock, if desired. The use of wire stock for thelever provides cylindrical axles for mounting the lever onto the frontpiece which are freely rotatable and are, in efiect, automatic rollerbearings.

The novel buckle construction thus utilizes an inexpensive buckle whichhas light, readily assembled parts, and has the additional advantagethat a positive belt lock is provided.

Although I have described a specific construetional embodiment of myinvention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape and arrangementof parts, and of their materials, may be made to meet differentrequirements, without departing from the spirit or the scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a buckle for belts with spaced perforations and having a framewith a top, depending sides, and inturned flanges, said flanges havingaligned axle receiving bearings at one end thereof, a lever having abase and a belt lock element, said base being formed of wire stock andincluding across bar, bends at the ends of'the cross bar providing abelt receiving loop, spaced parallel mounting bars extending from thebends, and outwardly extending axles extending from the spaced parallelmounting bars, and said belt lock element having a cross strip, anupstanding lock pin, and rolled ends looked around said spaced bars.

2. In a buckle for belts with spaced perforations and having a framewith a top, depending sides, and inturned flanges, said flanges havingaligned axle receiving bearings at one end thereof, a lever having abase and a belt lock element, said base being formed of wire stock andincluding a cross bar, bends at the ends of the cross bar providing abelt receiving loop, spaced paralel mounting bars extending from thebends, and outwardly extending axles extending from the spaced parallelmounting bars, and said belt lock element having a cross strip, anupstanding lock pin, and rolled ends looked around said spaced bars,said belt lock element being formed of halfround wire stock.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,763,981 Nichols et a1 June 17, 1930 1,920,834 Ayers Aug. 1,1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 8,120/27 Australia Aug. 6, 1928

